A Champion's Burden
by hp80
Summary: Cedric's thoughts immediately after Harry's name is drawn from the Goblet of Fire.


{Author's Note: Sadly, I do not own Harry Potter. This is just a one-shot from Cedric's POV in the Goblet of Fire after Harry's name is drawn.}

Cedric made his way back to the Hufflepuff common room. For once he wished it wasn't so conveniently located near the Great Hall. He wanted more time to himself to think, but he knew if he didn't return soon, people would begin to wonder where he had taken off to. In fact, he wouldn't put it past the entire Hufflepuff house to come looking for him. They are particularly good finders after all.

As he proceeded down the stairwell beneath the Great Hall, he thought over the events that had transpired in the past hour. He had been fantasizing about becoming a Hogwarts champion from the moment he put his name in the Goblet of Fire. Actually, in all honesty, he'd been daydreaming about it since the first day of term when Dumbledore announced that the tournament would be held at Hogwarts, and when Dumbledore read off his name in front of the entire school, it had been a dream come true.

The feeling of walking on air had been short lived, however, after finding out Harry Potter's name had also come out of the goblet. Cedric had been so enthralled at becoming the Hogwarts champion and finally gaining a little glory for the Hufflepuffs; yet, he knew now that whatever transpired from here on out, would be overshadowed by the entrance of the boy that was Harry Potter.

It just made no sense. How had Harry fooled an age line drawn by a wizard as experienced as Dumbledore?

Cedric continued to mull this over as he walked slowly down the stone corridor aligned with torches and various paintings of food. Maybe Harry was telling the truth, and he really hadn't put his name in the goblet. After all, the Weasley twins had tried an aging spell and that had failed miserably. Dumbledore seemed to trust that Harry was telling the truth too, and Cedric had no reason to doubt Dumbledore's judgment.

With all of these thoughts running through his mind, he almost walked by the unobtrusive stack of barrels in the recess on the right hand side of the corridor. He abruptly stepped back and paused by the alcove, wanting to reach a conclusion as to whether or not Harry was telling the truth before entering the Hufflepuff common room.

As much as Cedric wanted to be angry with Harry for taking away what should have been his sole glory, he just couldn't. All logical evidence pointed to the fact that someone other than Harry had put his name in the goblet. Therefore, Harry couldn't be blamed for something outside of his control.

Sighing in rescindment, Cedric pulled out his wand and tapped the middle barrel—in the second row and second from the bottom—to the cadence of 'Helga Hufflepuff.' Instantly, the barrel opened and expanded to reveal an upward sloping path.

Cedric took a deep breath, stepped inside, and climbed up the short walkway, which opened up to a large circular cabin-like room, with a ten-foot ceiling and effervescent decorations of black and gold, along with a copious amount of vegetation. Plants in all shapes and sizes—from Dogwood and Nightshade to Venus Fly Traps and enormous sprawling ferns—hung from the ceiling and were stacked in pots of various sizes on curved wooden tables against the walls, but the impressive collection of foliage was not the only thing that adorned the Hufflepuff common room tonight.

No, this evening there was a banner flying back and forth across the room on its own accord that read: CEDRIC DIGGORY! THE ONE TRUE CHAMPION! There were also flower petals rapidly shooting out of a previously un-magical hydrangea plant, and confetti was spurting out of the chandelier in the middle of the room, but Cedric barely had a chance to take all of this in, before he was surrounded by what felt like—and was likely close to—all the students in Hufflepuff.

"Cedric! Cedric! Cedric!" The crowd of Hufflepuffs chanted his name with great zest. "You did it Ced! You're a champion!" said Cedric's good friend, Zander Reeves.

"Yeah! Congrats Cedric!" added Zacharias Smith. "We all knew you'd be chosen. Rotten luck though that Potter put his name in too. You'd think he wouldn't want all of the attention. Guess he's got a taste for fame and won't let go of it."

"I don't know…maybe it wasn't him who put his name in. That'd be some high level magic if he managed too fool Dumbledore," interjected Ernie Macmillan before Cedric could respond.

"Dumbledore doesn't believe he put his name in the goblet, and neither do I," replied Cedric quickly before anyone else could drown him out.

"Come on Ced!" said Zander smirking at him. "You don't have to be polite. It's all right to be mad about it. No one will hold it against you, but it hardly matters anyway because you're gonna blow them all out of the water!"

"I'm not trying to be polite, I— " Cedric tried to respond before being grabbed by numerous hands and hoisted into the air, where he found himself body surfing the crowd as if he were at an out of control Weird Sisters concert.

The crowd surfing didn't last long though because he kept getting tangled in the low hanging ivy, but Cedric couldn't help but start to enjoy the celebration that was being thrown for him. As the night wore on, he found the ecstatic mood of the rest of the Hufflepuffs to be quite contagious.

Nevertheless, throughout the evening many people came up to him and expressed their anger at Harry's selection as an illegitimate Hogwarts champion. Each time, Cedric tried to defend Harry, but he was always dismissed for being too good-natured and told not to worry because there was no way Harry would beat him.

Eventually, the celebration came to an end, and Cedric was able to go through one of the round honey-colored wooden doors in the common room that led to the boy's dormitory and head to bed.

Exhausted as he was, Cedric knew there was something he had to do before he went to sleep. He grabbed a quill and a piece of parchment from his personal chest, sprawled out on the dormitory floor, and began to write.

 _Dear mother and father,_

 _I don't know how soon the news will be released, perhaps you will have already been made aware of it by the time this letter reaches you, but I have been chosen as a Hogwarts champion!_

Cedric paused, contemplating the best way to break the news to his parents that he wasn't the only champion of the school. After further reflection, he continued.

 _As you well know, with the dangerous history of the Triwizard Tournament, its reintroduction this year came with some safety precautions. One of which was the age restriction. However, there was an unforeseen incident. What I am trying to say is that I am not the only Hogwarts champion. Harry Potter's name also came out of the Goblet of Fire. Harry says he did not put his name in the goblet, and he has no idea who did. I believe him, as does Professor Dumbledore. In addition to the fact that it would be very difficult for a fourteen-year-old boy to outsmart an age line drawn by Dumbledore himself, Harry seemed more surprised than anyone that he had been chosen to compete._

 _I hope you are not too aggravated by this development. At any rate, the circumstances cannot be changed, and either way, I am still a Hogwarts champion. On the bright side, having two Hogwarts champions actually takes some pressure off of me. Nevertheless, I am nervous about what the first task may hold—it is supposed to test our daring—but I look forward to the challenge. I hope to hear from you both soon._

 _With love, your son,_

Cedric

Satisfied with the letter, Cedric stuffed it under his _Standard Book of Spells Grade 6_ that was sitting on his nightstand, vowing to head to the Owlery first thing in the morning to send it.

As he drifted off too sleep, Cedric couldn't help but be proud of himself for being chosen out of all the other eligible Hogwarts students as a school champion. Yet, he felt rather guilty that he would be welcomed with cheers in the halls tomorrow, whereas, Harry would likely feel the wrath of hateful stares and comments.

Despite these conflicting feelings, Cedric was finally able to drift off to sleep after assuring himself that whatever tomorrow or the tournament itself would bring, it wouldn't be the end of the world. No matter what, it wasn't life or death.


End file.
